George Barclay Purchases Land!

Great grandfather made a critical decision to move his trading post up to the present area of Pine River, Minnesota.

Two years after building his post on the South Branch of the Pine River, George Barclay apparently decided to move and expand his activities. He chose a site on higher, more open ground located next to land currently occupied by the Durkee Manufacturing Company. (Logsleds to Snowmobiles, pg. 104, published 1973).

My Aunt Miriam sent this to me as part of her notes about George’s land purchases (1986). Just click on the photo and it will open up so you can read it. She mentions three patents and one deed.

George’s Land – Miriam’s Notes

The Logsleds and Snowmobiles book published in 1973 by the town of Pine River for the Bicentennial gives these descriptions of the land holdings on page 105 at the bottom of the 1st column and top of the 2nd.

In 1876, he moved his establishment to higher ground and started purchasing land at the intersection of four townships: 137N-29W (Wilson), 137N-30W (Walden), 138N-29W (Barclay), and 138N-30W (Pine River). From this site grew the village. Appropriately, this largest settlement along the river eventually took the name of the river and became “Pine River.” (Logsleds to Snowmobiles, page 1.)

…Barclay’s land purchases may have been formally registered as early as 1875 and definitely by 1876; however, the abstract indicates that the first purchase of the NW1/4 of the NW1/4 of Section 6, Township 137, Range 29 (Wilson Township) was not recorded as purchased until July 20, 1878, and the patent not received from the federal government until 1879. On May 15, 1883, he purchased according to record the NE1/4 of the NW1/4 of Section 6, Township 137, Range 29, from the federal government. (Logsleds to Snowmobiles, page 105).

The final 80 acre purchase of the SE1/4 and the SW1/4 (Lot 7) of the SW1/4 of Section 31, Township 138, Range 29 (Barclay Township) was bought on June 7, 1883 from the Northern Pacific Railway Company for $329.36. (Logsleds to Snowmobiles, page 105).

You can click on various townships and cities in Cass County and pull up great maps in today’s world.

The online version does not seem to have the “Information About Land Descriptions” that appears on pages 8 – 10 in the 2005 published version? It is very important to understand how to read the land descriptions. The National Atlas has this link to an explanation of the public land survey system: http://www.nationalatlas.gov/articles/boundaries/a_plss.html It might help to make the above information make more sense.

I also stumbled on the Heritage Group North website and discovered they were posting excerpts from the Logsleds to Snowmobiles book. I also noticed that they have referenced this blog! So in the spirit of sharing here is their link along with my thank you: http://www.pineriverhistory.org/5.html.

Things to Ponder

The header photo of the Mississippi River near Brainerd and the headwaters of the river. From the Minnesota Nature Conservancy Website.

Leola May Blinn may be the daughter of Sarah A. Blinn a sister of George and Alexander. I have added new information as of 6/10/2016 to the post about another of Alexander's siblings. Just put Leola into the search engine and you should find the information.

Table of content pages have been added to the top of this blog. Each page covers a family grouping and the posts published on this blog about that family and other blogs that I write on. HOVER over the titles at the top of this page and other pages titles will drop down. 1/22/2016

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.